Guitar Gear Forum

More often than not I use my XXX live. Especially for out of town shows where I ride with the drummer and his SUV. And he has two big ass 24 inch kicks, and a 7 piece kit and all the hardware. We literally get my amp/cab , and guitars in with not a single inch to spare. So the big Evh simply would not fit in this scenario. I ended breaking the ultra channel gain pot of the xxx tho, last trip. Do’h! Oh well, I use the crunch mainly anyway. Eventually I’ll fix it.

But after getting the creambacks in my one cab, I decided to swap back some speakers I liked with my other cabs. So I have 3 4x12s that all seriously sound great to me. All have two speakers, my one has k100s on the bottom, g12-65 on top. Rules. The 5150 cab has X pattern of the Evh Celestions and Celestion 65 Creambacks. 16 ohms. Really digging it. And My DOronzo cab with x pattern of Mesa V30 and Evh Celestions but 8 ohm. 8 ohm and 16 ohm have clear differences if you didn’t know. Anyway, the xxx thru the DOronzo is simply crushing. I also decided to go ahead and put 6l6s back in the XXX. And that’s a definite change as well. Certainly adds the low end thickness back. So just to hear it I recorded over that Slayer drum track my Drummer actually made using his Roland TD30 into his iPhone! Lol. But he hasn’t figured out how to make it stereo so his drum track is mono which is why the cymbals and toms are a little off. But the kick and snare, actually sound damn good to me. In fact, I think that snare is awesome. Might have to make a sample set of THOSE sample.., Anyway, XXX with a 57 micing only theb Evh speaker. Altho I was happy with either. Just the Evh needed less work.

https://app.box.com/s/wk43wbouwg2jxzb5ngmb90bxz84dja3j

Oh yeah, I left the beginning with guitars only just to hear the guitar tone separately for a min

Goddamn that sounds great. I know your recording skills and playing are top notch but wow, I want a XXX now.

Yup, sounds basically perfect! I agree, kick and snare sound EXCELLENT!

Right? Lol. I’ve ALWAYS had no problem with the XxX. I had another one for a short while and it had a blown SGR initially but even after I fixed it, it just wasn’t quite the same. It sounded good still, but it just didn’t have the life my original one had. I did never change the tubes but they seemed like they had life… So what I’m saying is, maybe mine is a bit of a “good” one?? I even had an Ultra Plus here recently to Check it against, and as soon as I plugged the Ultra Plus in I liked it as well. And it was maybe a bit easier to dial in. But when I really got into the weeds comparing em, XXX won out. And I could also basically dial the XXX to sound the same as the Ultra Plus but couldn’t Vice versa. So to me, that myth of the Ultra Plus being the best Ultra series and better than XXX… Nope! Haha

Killer man. I always love your XXX clips. I need to revisit that amp someday. I saw one for $499 the other day at my local GC but ended up not buying it. Obviously, I changed my mind the next day, went back to the store and...gone.

Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 5:09 pm Killer man. I always love your XXX clips. I need to revisit that amp someday. I saw one for $499 the other day at my local GC but ended up not buying it. Obviously, I changed my mind the next day, went back to the store and...gone.

For some reason I keep my eyes peeled for em as well. Not actively but if I see one at a GC I’ll look into it. Also the 3120. And man, does GC seem to get some beat to Shit ones! Haha. Haven’t found one I felt was working properly yet

Endtime wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 5:19 pm

Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 5:09 pm Killer man. I always love your XXX clips. I need to revisit that amp someday. I saw one for $499 the other day at my local GC but ended up not buying it. Obviously, I changed my mind the next day, went back to the store and...gone.

For some reason I keep my eyes peeled for em as well. Not actively but if I see one at a GC I’ll look into it. Also the 3120. And man, does GC seem to get some beat to Shit ones! Haha. Haven’t found one I felt was working properly yet

so since you're our resident XXX expert is the 3120 exact the same amp? Or slightly different? I keep hearing conflicting answers on that.

I like the way the 3120 looks.

They are the same amp, but the 3120 shipped with EL34s vs the XXX with 6l6s.

According to all the old PV forum employees who’d answer questions. Same amp, different aesthetics and tubes. I will say, and again, it may very well be my amp is off spec a bit. But whenever I see other peoples settings of the 3120 and I think it sounds good, they can dial WAY more mids than I can get away with with my xxx. My amp is very mid forward. I have to have them 9oclock or lower most of the time. And the only way o can run them higher is if I boost the low end a ton and get the gain pumping as that adds the thickness back… And I’ve run my xxx with el34s a ton, so it can’t be the tubes. Lot of other variables but i see some settings of pro players who used the 3120 and they dont work for me… At all. Lol.

But besides that I think they are apparently the exact same except the SGR value has definitely been upped to 1k or it may have been 700ohm. But I upgraded those in mine as well as I did have issues blowing those with el34s